Rev. Isaac Thorton Cantrell

A Patriot of the American Revolution for NORTH CAROLINA. DAR Ancestor # A018930

He was born about 1745 & died about 1804. He died in an area of Smith Co., TN. that later fell into the boundaries of Warren Co., TN. in 1807 and later on in 1837 it fell into the boundaries of DeKalb Co., TN.

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Nov 21 2016, 20:21:20 UTC

11. ISAAC3 CANTRELL, (Joseph2, Richard1), b ABT 1733 New Castle Co., DE (PA) d 1805 Spartanburg Co, SC m1st Talitha Cloud m 2nd Elizabeth _______ m3rd Mary Linder. The Cantrill-Cantrell Genealogy, published bin 1908 by Susan Cantrill Christie, on page 141 shows Isaac Cantrell3 (Joseph2, Richard1-A) and Isaac Cantrell Jr, son of Isaac. This is an error. The information and the will and the children given there are for Isaac Cantrell3. Much confusion exists concerning Isaac Cantrell, his wives, and his children. Warren G. Cantrell and other researchers have spent much time and effort attempting to get a comprehensive list of his children, and have found court records in South Carolina which include many of those children. It now appears that Isaac Cantrell3 had three wives and 25 children. (At least six of these children had the same names as did children of Isaac's brother John Cantrell, who had 20 children by two wives. There were may possibilities for confusion.)

Isaac Cantrell was a son of Joseph and Catharina Cantrell, and a brother of John Cantrell who was born October 1724. The best available information indicates that Isaac Cantrell was born about 1733. On 17 Feb 1806 at the Court of Ordinary in Spartanburg Co., SC, Lawrence Bankston deposed that Isaac Cantrell was about 72 years old at the time of his death in 1805. Isaac may have been born in New Castle Co., PA (DE). His parents are thought to have moved into Virginia in the 1730's, and to have been living in Orange Co., VA in 1738. However Joseph is not found on the Orange Co., VA, Tithables from 1735 to 1739, 1747-1749, 1751, 1753, and 1756 to 1760. The tithables for Orange Co., VA, are missing for 1740 to 1747, 1750, and 1752. They moved into Orange Co., NC, around 1752. Warren G. Cantrell thinks that Isaac and his family did not move from Virginia to North Carolina until about 1756, and this may be correct. Isaac first bought land in Orange Co., NC, on 14 Dec 1756, a 200 acre tract from the Earl of Granville.

By 1756, Isaac Cantrell was married and had four children. His first wife is thought to have been Talitha Cloud, who was probably the mother of his first eight children. They married young, probably about 1751, as their first child was born in 1752. Their third child, Mary Cantrell, born 1754, married Sampson Bethel. Tradition has come down in the Bethel family that Mary's mother was Talitha Cloud, supported by the fact that Mary had a son Cantrell Bethel, a daughter Talitha Bethel, and most importantly, a son named Cloud Bethel. Use of the unusual name Cloud is strong evidence of a relationship to that family. Of Isaac's first eight children, three are known to have had daughters named Talitha. Talitha Cloud was probably born about 1735, married Isaac Cantrell about 1751, and died about 1762, after having eight children. Talitha Cloud's parents are presently unknown.

After the death of his first wife, Isaac Cantrell married again; the second wife's name was Elizabeth. This is established by a notation in a Book of Hymns and Spiritual Songs owned by Sarah Cantrell, who married William Pirkle, the fourteenth child of Isaac Cantrell. The book is now owned by a descendant, and written on the flyleaf is this: "Sarah Cantrell, daughter of Isaac Cantrell and Elizabeth his wife was born July ye 27th-1769." Elizabeth's last name is not known, nor the names of her parents. She apparently died about 1772, after the birth of her eighth child, who was Isaac's sixteenth child.

Isaac Cantrell by 1772 was under 40 years old and had sixteen children; the oldest was twenty and the youngest was just born. He badly needed a wife and fortunately he found one quickly and not far away. She was 17 year old Mary Linder, born about 1755, the daughter of Isaac's neighbor John Linder. She was certainly of child-bearing age, and she produced nine children between 1772 and 1783. Her children are documented in the census, in the 1806 court action, and in her will (or deed of gift), which was written in 1830, several years before her death in the fall of 1844.

Isaac Cantrell had 25 children by his three wives, and he had a least 194 grandchildren. However, Isaac was engaged in numberous activities besides bringing children into the world. To begin with, he had to grow enough food to feed his large family, and enough food to feed his large family, and enough flax, cotton, and wool to clothe them. This was in the day when practically all food for the family was grown and prepared on the farm, involving a great deal of work for the entire family. Isaac Cantrell was a slaveowner at the time of his death in 1805; in 1800 he owned four slaves. He named three adult slaves in his will, and there were also slave children. He left the slaves to his wife and four of his younger sons. Being a slaveowner was apparently not in conflict with his religious beliefs. Isaac had strong religious beliefs, and in fact was a Baptist preacher. Precisely when he became a Baptist or a preacher is not known. He may have done so at an early age, or he may have been past forty. We do know that he was the founder, organizer, and first pastor of the Wolf Island Primitive Baptist Church. Located one mile north of Reidsville in Rockingham County, North Carolina, it was formed in 1777. Isaac lived on the farm where the church was located, and it was known for many years as Cantrell's Meeting House. Isaac served as pastor there for 20 years, until in his old age he moved in 1795 to Spartanburg County, South Carolina, where his brother John had lived since about 1782.

In South Carolina, Isaac again served as pastor of a Baptist Church, the Buck Creek Church where his brother John was a member. Isaac was pastor from 1796 through 1799, and his brother John served as messenger to the Bethel Association during some of those years. Apparently as Isaac grew older, he began to have some mental problems; probably he had what would now be diagnosed as some form of Alzheimer's disease. His will was contested after his death, and eleven witnesses were called to help determine his mental condition. Isaac was "on a sick bed" for two years and one month before his death about September 1805. One witness said that Isaac "was not in his right senses in regard to the church. He never agreed to anything so as to stand to it." Another thought Isaac "childish" in respect to the church, and said "it was common talk in the neighborhood that he was in his dotage." Yet another witness said that Isaac "was of a right mind and could do his business. That he was an industrious man, never kept an overseer and he thinks he directed his farm and was in his right mind." All these depositiions were taken on 17 February 1806 at the Court of Ordinary in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Isaac's will left all his land to his wife for her lifetime, but the court concluded that the will was valid for the personal property, but not for the land. Peter Cantrell, Isaac's son by Elizabeth, brought an action in the Court of Common Pleas of Spartanburg County in October 1807, suggesting that one third of the land be given to the widow, Mary Cantrell, as her dower, and that the rest be divided among the 19 heirs of Isaac Cantrell. The widow had no objections, and she was assigned 200 acres, including the plantation house. The remaining land was to be sold and divided among the heirs. However, this was not likely to enrich the heirs, as the entire 862 acres was appraised at $650.50, less than $1 per acre. By the time it was divided among the 19 heirs, probably no one got more than $25. Why only 19 heirs were listed is not clear. Apparently, two of Mary Linder's children had died young, which left 23 heirs. One of Talitha's children also apparently died without heirs, but two of Talitha's children were omitted from the list of heirs: Mary Cantrell who married Sampson Bethel, and Elizabeth Cantrell who married her cousin John 'Miller John' Cantrell. James Cantrell, son of the second wife Elizabeth, was also omitted. Possibly these chose not to join in the court action; they may have been given some property by their father Isaac at an earlier time, with the understanding that it would be their share of his estate. At any rate, the list of 19 heirs has been very helpful in establishing who the children of Isaac Cantrell were. The following list of his children may not be totally accurate, but it is a much more comprehensive list than was available when the 1908 Cantrell Genealogy was written. ( byThomas G. Webb)

Source: D. Mitchell Jones

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@R-1569549506@ U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Find A Grave 1,60525::0

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1,60525::74139240

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@R-1569549506@ U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Find A Grave 1,60525::0

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1,60525::74139240

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@R-1569549506@ U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Find A Grave 1,60525::0

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1,60525::74139240

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@R-1569549506@ U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Find A Grave 1,60525::0

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1,60525::74139240

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Isaac Cantrell was the son of Joseph and Catharina Cantrell of Wilmington, New Castle Co., DE. He was the pastor of the Buck Creek Baptist Church from 1796-1799. He is probably buried in the Buck Creek Baptist Church Cemetery with a field stone marker. He was the husband of 3 wives: Talitha, Elizabeth, and Mary and the father of 25 children.

• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Apr 3 2022, 21:36:18 UTC

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Rev. Isaac Cantrell, Sr. (1729-1805) was a son of Joseph Cantrell & Catherine Cantrell.

1st married Talitha Cloud (1729-1768). Married 1750.

2nd to Elizabeth Cloud (17331-1772). Married 1769.

3rd to Mary Linder (1754-1844). Married 1773.

Source:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/31250529/isaac-cantrell